Food Media Brand Eyes Brick-And-Mortar Cafes To Raise Its Profile

05/21/18

Written By:

Alex Shultz

In an effort to expand consumer reach beyond recipes and videos, Tastemade is putting its name on cafes

Tastemade is primarily known for its food and travel videos in addition to its recipes, but the global entertainment company is now eyeing a move toward brick-and-mortar cafes. As it turns out, the idea has been in the works for a few years: Tastemade is a minority investor in Bondi Harvest, a cafe in Santa Monica, California that opened in 2016. And last year, Tastemade Cafe opened in Sao Paulo, Brazil, offering cuisine options that customers have seen in videos.

At first, Tastemade saw Bondi Harvest as lunch spot for its employees and a venue for meetings with partners and advertisers. It also produced a documentary series, Grand Opening, for its network about the team behind the cafe. But the experience inspired the company to dive deeper into the cafe business and explore it as an avenue for fans to engage with Tastemade content in a physical setting.

Larry Fitzgibbon, CEO of Tastemade, told Digiday, “We’re seeing successes in the places we’re testing and think that could lead to better opportunities.” A big part of that push will be licensing deals. Tastemade is already licensing its name to another spot in Brazil, and plans to do more of that in the future. Fitzgibbon added that working with cafes is a possible revenue line, though there is not yet a timeline in place for how that will unfold.

Tastemade is primarily known for its food and travel videos in addition to its recipes, but the global entertainment company is now eyeing a move toward brick-and-mortar cafes. As it turns out, the idea has been in the works for a few years: Tastemade is a minority investor in Bondi Harvest, a cafe in Santa Monica, California that opened in 2016. And last year, Tastemade Cafe opened in Sao Paulo, Brazil, offering cuisine options that customers have seen in videos.

At first, Tastemade saw Bondi Harvest as lunch spot for its employees and a venue for meetings with partners and advertisers. It also produced a documentary series, Grand Opening, for its network about the team behind the cafe. But the experience inspired the company to dive deeper into the cafe business and explore it as an avenue for fans to engage with Tastemade content in a physical setting.

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